Student Claims School Cafeteria Served Her Pizza Out Of Trash

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (CBS Las Vegas) – A mother is angry with her daughter’s school after she was allegedly served lunch out of a trash can.

Sierra Prince, a special needs student in eighth grade at Pleasant Grove Junior High School, wanted a slice of pizza for lunch Wednesday afternoon. A kitchen employee told her that there wasn’t any left.

But Prince insisted on having pizza so a second kitchen employee pulled out what was left from the top of a trash can.

“I didn’t really like the taste of it at all,” Prince told KSTU. “It was nasty.”

Prince, who has learning disabilities and is a diabetic, shared that she felt the need to listen to her school-appointed aid and the staff.

“I didn’t want to eat it, but I was dosed for pizza anyway because I’m diabetic. So, I had to eat it,” Prince told KSTU.

Prince’s mother, Nicole Cordoba, is furious with the school for letting that happen.

“How could that happen to a child? What adult makes that decision? It’s common sense: We don’t eat out of trash cans,” Cordoba told KSTU.

Cordoba complained to the Alpine School District and the district’s nutrition services director sent an email to school employees stating that it was “totally unacceptable.”

“This was totally unacceptable. Your employee needs a reprimand and a discipline warning issued immediately. We never serve food that has been placed in a garbage can,” the director stated in the email obtained by KSTU.

A lunch manager has been placed on administrative leave after the incident and the school district plans to investigate what happened further.

“Sierra can’t make her own decisions on what she eats,” Cordoba told KSTU. “That’s why they hired the helper. Not only one person made the decision for Sierra to eat out of the trash, three adults did.”

Prince wasn’t looking forward to returning to school after being served food from the trash can.

“I don’t even know if I want to go to school tomorrow at all,” she told KSTU.